Wellness & Fitness

Work stress linked to diabetes in women

stressed

Stressful experiences usually cause the body to feel threatened. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Most people associate diabetes with traditional risk factors such as obesity, high blood pressure and sedentary lifestyles.

However, research is increasingly shedding light on the role that psychological or emotional stress plays in the development of the condition in women.

A new study published in this month’s European Journal of Endocrinology found that women who find their jobs mentally tiring are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

The study findings suggest that mentally draining work may increase the risk of diabetes in women.

According to the research, employers and women should be more aware of the potential health risks associated with mentally tiring work.

This is becoming increasingly important in modern life where most people work in extremely busy environments with so much work and a minimal workforce.

During the study, researchers from the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health at Inserm (French National Institute of Health and Medical Research) examined the effect of mentally tiring work on diabetes incidence in more than 70,000 women, during a 22-year period.

Information on the level of mentally tiring work was collected via questionnaire and categorised into three levels: little or not mentally tiring, mentally tiring, or very tiring.

Insulin resistance

The study found that women were 21 percent more likely to develop type-2 diabetes if they found their jobs mentally tiring at the start of the study.

This was independent of typical risk factors including age, dietary habits, smoking status, blood pressure, body weight, physical activity level and family history of diabetes.

Type 2-diabetes is an increasingly prevalent disease that places a huge burden on patients and society.

Bodies of people with the disease are unable to produce sufficient insulin to regulate blood sugar.

In some instances, sufficient insulin may be produced but the body may not be able to respond to it. This is known as insulin resistance. Type-2 diabetes can lead to significant health problems including heart attacks, strokes, blindness and kidney failure.

“Although we cannot directly determine what increased diabetes risk in these women, our results indicate it is not due to typical type 2 diabetes risk factors,” said Dr Guy Fagherazzi, lead author of the study and senior research scientist in diabetes and digital epidemiology at the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health at Paris-Saclay University in France.

He stated that the research findings underscore the importance of considering mental tiredness as a risk factor for diabetes among women.

“Both mentally tiring work and type 2 diabetes are an increasingly common occurrence.

“What we do know is that support in the workplace has a stronger impact on work-related stress in women than men.

“Therefore, greater support for women in stressful work environments could help to prevent chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes.”

Stress due to mental or emotional stress arises when people feel that they are not capable of coping with pressure.

Such stressful experiences usually cause the body to feel threatened.

Danger zone

This happens in a manner similar to when someone is facing a physical threat like coming face-to-face with a snake.

When the body experiences stress, it reacts by releasing hormones, which allow cells to access stored energy — glucose or fat — which can enable the body to quickly get out of a danger zone.

During this process, the body releases the cortisol and adrenalin hormones into the bloodstream.

The two cause the heart to beat faster, pumping blood to the limbs and muscles so as to enable individuals to feel energised and hence able to flee from the perceived danger fast.

In the case of a physical threat, people usually use up the glucose by converting it to energy that enables them to run for their lives, to safety.

However, in the case of stress caused by mental strain such as work pressures, the high surge in the two hormones release huge amounts of glucose that remain ‘idle’ as no physical flight takes place. This unused glucose leads to a build-up of sugar in the bloodstream that enhances the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Health experts also note that the link between mental strain and diabetes could be due to the fact that people who work with high job strain or demands tend to more frequently exhibit unhealthy lifestyle factors such as smoking, poor sleep and unhealthy dietary patterns that are frequently related to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.